


The Arts

by Evekle



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Feels, Arting is hard, Drawing and Sketching, Everyone Needs A Hug, Letters, Love Letters, Love that never pays off, M/M, Thomas tries to draw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-03-31 10:32:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13973208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evekle/pseuds/Evekle
Summary: A look through the different types of art, whether it be drawing, writing or storytelling. All post tdc.





	1. Of Letters and Scribing

**Author's Note:**

> This was only supposed to be 500 words and it got out of control really fast. Mind you, this does get very angsty very fast. Exploring the idea of letters was fun to write but wow was it depressing to write about. 
> 
> Feel free to tell me what I should write next!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Headcanoning that Newt wrote letters before the Maze because canon isn't something that's worth following. A look through the Fever Code had these letters actually been written, ending is post TDC.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had a lot of fun writing this, despite the fact that I have never written a letter before. Parallels are probably on purpose. Going to be part of a small oneshots in a fic talking about the arts. Drawing is the next part, then we go to storytelling. 
> 
> Anyways, have fun reading this!

Everyone in the WCKD compound knew about the bond of A2 and A5 as they were going everywhere together. It was old news, well until they discovered there was something else going on between the two subjects. Once it was discovered, Janson was the first to springboard onto an opportunity, to break his least favourite subject _just_ a bit more. The man’s idea was to give A5 the Flare prior to the second trial began. This way WCKD could get more patterns for the blueprint of the Cure.

 

The cleaning team was cleaning the dorms that night since all the subjects were inserted into the Maze Trials and they found a box under A2’s bed. There were letters upon letters under Thomas’ bed, all of them written by the same person, Newt. Each one was written on a different day, print and size. Some had contained a single sentence while others were as long as essays they had written for their classes at WCKD. With further inspection, one could see that they were all numbered as well, numbers ranging from one to fifty. Nobody knew why they were written much less how the kid found _time_ to write all of these given that the two subjects were glued to the hip at all times.

 

* * *

 

 Thomas had found the first letter right after the first group of boys were sent into the Maze Trials. It was right on top of his bunk, and it would be the one which started the search to find the other documents. Needless to say, it was a wild goose chase to find some of them. The first one was simple enough, with Newt writing how he’s glad that he and Thomas had met and whatnot. It had said:

_Dear Tommy,_

_This is the first letter I’ve written to you, one of many. By the time you have found this letter,  I would have already been sent into the Trials. I want to thank you for being my friend after all these years. It has been a fun few years that we had together._

_Now that I have that out of the way, I might as well tell you how there’s ‘many’ letters. Long story short, I’ve written multiple letters and they’ve been scattered throughout the compound. If you’re going to find the next one, try going to the maintenance room we used to hang out in._

_Sincerely,_

_Newt_

 

This one letter had sparked a fire in Thomas, he was going to find every letter that Newt has written, even if it was the last thing he does. So he goes around the compound at night until he had found _every_ one of these pieces of paper. There were multiple in the maintenance room, one in the weird incubator place, another in Group B’s closet which they used to get one last meeting with Lizzy and a few more in the dorms. It took him months to find all of these letters.

 

These letters talk about all sorts of things they’ve been through. They range from recounts of their adventures or the happy memories they have with each other. One of them makes some commentary on the friendship they have, in that very same letter, it’s Newt’s confession. Saying how the blonde wishes that they had more time in a different world for the friendship to burn and become something else. This one letter causes Thomas to re evaluate his entire relationship and concludes after some analyzes that they _did_ blur the lines of friend and love more than once. He wishes he could tell Newt.

 

Each night, Thomas would take one from the stake from under his bed and reread it, like a bedtime story. It was the last thing he has from Newt so he treasures them, doesn’t even tell Chuck or Teresa about them. To Thomas, these letters were something private, it was a reminder that his home was still there, an anchor of sorts. They were the safety net that Newt _was_ still with him in a way.

 

The ideal of Newt's safety is smashed one normal afternoon at the observation quarters. Thomas sees Newt coming back to the Glade with Alby, limping. Thomas has to find out what happened and he begins to piece _what the shuck happened_ bit by bit. This means going through the Beetle Blade’s data in order to piece together what happened. It takes him two hours to piece together what had happened, once Thomas does find all the useful footage, he wishes he hadn't. Thomas watches Newt leave the Glade in the monitor only to jump from a wall with ivy a few shots later. He can't look anymore, and turns off the monitor right after seeing Newt jump. It's too painful, so he stays away from the monitor room for the rest of the day. All Thomas does is reread the letters left by Newt. He stays in bed for the entire day trying to avoid everyone, that night he cries himself to sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

It's the day before Thomas is inserted into the Maze Trials, and he can't sleep. The boy takes out the letters and rereads all of them, trying to burn all the letters into memory. Hopefully he can remember enough of these documents to keep him through the entire ride to the Glade.

 

Thomas has read all these letters so many times that the paper has become thin and worn. All these letters are without response so he’s written a few back even though his friend isn’t present. Doctor Paige tells him that he _can’t_ send any of them in despite many of them having multiple rewrites. These letters to Newt are the ones Thomas has written at night whenever he can’t sleep. Thomas _has_ tried to get one of the Psyches to put one of his letters into the Box. When the Box does go up, he looks with anticipation as the boys look through the supplies, hoping that Newt’ll find that letter only to realize later that it never sent. Someone had removed it. After a bit of research he learns that a man called Janson had removed it. Thomas doesn’t try again since he thinks it’ll happen again.

 

That night, he rereads all of them, it’s a binge reading night. It’s around midnight when he’s finished reading all the letters. Thomas wakes up the next morning on the operation table, he’s being sent into the Maze Trials. Soon, he’ll be able to see his friends soon, sure Thomas is nervous but the idea that he’ll be able to see Newt again makes him feel a bit better.

 

* * *

 

 

They’re in the Safe Haven, now, they no longer need to fight just to see the sun rise again the next morning. Despite this, the price to get here has been hefty, with Newt’s death still hanging over Thomas. If Thomas could, he would turn back time and just try to save Newt. It doesn’t matter how many repeats it’ll take, Newt deserves to be in Paradise with them. Thomas thinks that he’s completely lost his friend until Minho gives him the pendant. So he opens it up once his friend leaves, and _and_ he can’t read it. The letter is the last thing he has from Newt and once he finishes reading it, it’s good-bye. Holding his breath, he opens up the document, and there it is, Newt’s handwriting. The letter is simple, it’s thanking Thomas for being his friend and saying how the runner can’t give up. Somewhere subconsciously, the letter is familiar as if his friend has written more sometime in the past, though he is certain it is his last. Thomas just wishes they had more time.

 

Throughout the next few years, he rereads the letters, over and over again. And slowly, he begins to evaluate his relationship with Newt at night. Just fiddling with the idea that maybe _just maybe_ they could have been more. Looking back, it’s probably from all those looks and touches the two shared but they _didn’t_ have the time, none of them did. Thomas just wishes the blonde was here so they could explore the concept together.

 

It’s decades later, when he writes a reply to it despite knowing it will never get to the recipient. He writes:

_Dear Newt,_

_This is the first letter I’ll be writing to you, one of many. There’ll be more I’ll be writing. Anyways, I’m so_ **_so_ ** _sorry that I couldn’t save you. You deserve to be here with all of us. I’m sorry I couldn’t save you…_

_Your Tommy_

  
  



	2. Of Sketches and Drawings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post TDC, takes place after chapter one. This time, Thomas goes into Drawing, or in other cases, creating visual copies of memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This happened after some yelling from Kath in the discord, and well, this baby was born. Filled with fluff and angst throughout, what can I say? It's a journey through time.

It’s few months of living in the Safe Haven when Thomas begins to think that memory is a terrible thing. Forget about how great this place is, every night, it’s journey into nightmares. Every time he closes his eyes all he sees are cranks, the burning city and Newt. Not the one he  _ wants  _ to see, not the boy with blond hair and brown eyes who’s always been there, instead it’s the crank of a friend. Occasionally it’s dream, where he’s able to rejoin the ones who have died.  _ Alby, Winston, Chuck, Teresa and Newt’s always there.  _ The second in command is everywhere in his dreams, it didn’t matter where he woke up into during the ‘dreams’, it would always be awful. 

 

A year into paradise and he starts getting paranoid. Newt’s face starts getting blurry and he gets scared. Thomas reads the letter every night, it’s the closest thing he has to a bedtime story anyways. This is the last thing he has from Newt, the  _ only  _ thing.

 

So he starts to learn how to draw, or at least try. His first ‘sketches’ look as though as five year old has done them.   Odd shapes, proportion being almost non existent, but he keeps drawing. The main focus of his attention being things he sees in those dreams. Trying not to forget anyone’s faces, it’s harder than he thinks. The subject of drawing people was always hard, from what he’s heard. And it is.

 

* * *

 

_ Humans are eight heads tall.  _

 

The anatomy of people have always been weird. The exact number of sections in the Maze. Eight, the same number in which his watch from the Maze stopped that horrible night. It’s become a relic of the past that he can’t toss away, it’s the one thing that brings both happiness and grief. Thomas tries not to think about it too much, nor does he ever remove it. Most importantly, he keeps drawing. These newer sketches aren’t deformed, instead there’s the human form becoming obvious. He’s started to draw those who haven’t made it, or to be more specific, Newt. 

 

There’s pages upon pages of redraws of memories, they’re fading slowly but at least this way there’s a way to keep them forever. Mostly they’re just rough scribbles of the human anatomy with portraits scattered throughout. On page three, it’s a sketch of his first night in the Glade. It was one of the first major pieces he’s tried to draw. The lighting in it is a bit odd in certain places, such as having two shadows on the log. Gally’s recipe doesn’t quite look like it’s liquid, more like a blob of jello. The ‘sketch’ was one of the first thing he’s finished, and it looks nice. Soft shading, it looks almost like it’s alive, but Newt doesn’t look right. So Thomas keeps drawing.

 

On page thirty-five, it’s the another memory redraw. This time, it’s that night in the Scorch. It was right after Winston died, the other campfire talk. This time, it’s the same lighting as before but with better shading. Overall, it looks better, well almost. It’s the first drawing with colour, sure it’s not accurate as his memory but it’s impossible to be  _ exactly  _ like the original can it? The copy is never the same as the original, usually quite inferior. It’s never been more true in this case, the scene looks  _ nothing  _ like what he sees in his memories. And he keeps scribbling. 

 

Other than Newt, he has people give him art requests after a few people have mentioned how life like the these drawings have become. Five years have passed, and Thomas has filled over twenty notebooks already. Each of them filled with pictures of the Gladers, those who didn’t make it. The majority of them are drawn by listening to those bonfires, listening to old Glader tales. On one page it’s Doug, the next one is Stephen, there’s more than six notebooks filled with these tales. Thomas has basically drawn something for  _ everyone  _ in the Safe Haven, at least he’s contributing somehow. 

 

Gally had asked him to draw Ben as one of the requests, and once he gave the other boy the picture, he had never seen someone look blissful yet broken at the same time. He draws Teresa for his own keepsake, as well as Chuck for everyone who’s been in the Glade. He draws Minho a picture of Alby, after all the two of each other knew each other quite well during the years in the Maze. Brenda has a picture of her brother, George, and he redraws it, as well as Mary for Vince. Everyone’s faces after they see the pictures are priceless. It acts as a way to give Thomas hope for what he’s doing. 

 

Yet despite being able to draw everyone else in a photographic accuracy, Newt  _ never  _ looks right. Thomas can’t tell, is it because the glint in those drawn eyes are never the same as the ones in his memories which keep on fading. Faces become blurred, voices become nothing more than a whisper, the world seems bent on stopping him from grasping the final straws of keeping those precious memories intact. The night from years ago has even become a blur, the only thing he can remember is from the letter. 

 

And he draws all those moments, hell he even draws Frypan’s stew for kicks. It gives him something to do. Until the the paper’s text becomes unreadable does Thomas start to believe that he can’t keep the memories at all. It’s all sand flowing out of his hands. 

 

So Thomas keeps scribbling, it’s all he can do to keep these memories after all.  


End file.
